Herbed Olive Oil Cubes

I like to use the freshest ingredients as often as possible when I’m cooking. And I truly believe that nothing compares to the taste of fresh herbs from the farmers market. However, I find myself disappointed when I can’t use my rosemary, oregano, sage or thyme before they expire. When I was browsing Pinterest recently, I saw a pretty genius idea that solved this dilemma. Enter: Infused olive oil ice cubes.

This solution allows the herbs to infuse into the olive oil while freezing, and the cubes come in pretty handy for cooking. You just pop one out of the ice cube tray and into your saucepan. The infused olive oil then becomes the base of your dish. Since dill, basil and mint should always be used fresh, today I’m going to show you how to make these ice cubes using rosemary and sage (thyme and oregano will work too). Let’s get started…

You will need:

olive oil

fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano work best)

ice cube tray

knife

To recap, here are the steps:

1. Chop your herbs into medium sized pieces.
2. Fill the ice cube tray with your chopped herbs.
3. Pour the olive oil into each cube, leaving a little room at the top (they will expand when freezing).
4. Place in the freezer overnight.
5. Pop out an ice cube and put it into your saucepan. Start cooking!

This trick is a great way to make delicious food without letting fresh herbs go to waste. But it’s also convenient and healthy too. Using one olive oil ice cube allows you to control the portions of oil and fat you are putting into your dish. Plus, making an entire tray of olive oil ice cubes in one sitting will save you the trouble of dicing and chopping up your herbs each time you cook.